Debs Condoms: Reponsible or Reckless?

deisedude

From Todays Irish Examiner

STUDENTS acting responsibly or every parent’s nightmare?

Guests at a debs ball will have a wider choice than normal tonight when they are presented with free condoms when they sit down to eat.

The organisers, who have just graduated from a Catholic girl’s school on Cork’s northside, placed dozens of contraceptives on tables in the function room of the Montenotte Hotel in preparation for the ball.

More than 70 couples are due to attend the dinner dance, which has been arranged by a committee of former students of St Vincent’s Secondary School. Most of the guests are aged between 17 and 19.

Organisers have supplied a single condom for each couple as part of the formal place setting.

A spokesperson for the debs committee confirmed they discussed the issue and first planned to offer condoms to guests as a joke – possibly in a surprise bag.

But she said it was then decided to place the contraceptives, as well as flavoured lubricating gel, on the tables in an effort to promote safe sex.

"It is a responsible thing to do. People are going to be drunk and things will happen," she said.

A spokesman for the four star hotel said he was not aware of the initiative but said it is a matter for the organisers of what is essentially a private event.

Andy Walker, the health promotion manager of the HSE South, said it’s a good idea "in principle".

He stressed that sexual health experts would not encourage sexual activity among teenagers over the age of consent.

"But if young people are sexually active then condoms are the minimum precaution," he said.

However, Mary Crilly, the director of the Sexual Violence Centre in Cork, urged caution.

"I appreciate what the organisers are trying to do but I don’t think throwing condoms on the table is the right approach," she said.

While some parents will say such an initiative might encourage sexual activity, Ms Crilly said using condoms "in this day and age is the sensible approach".

But she said a wider discussion around sexual relations should take place first.

"There should be a wider discussion first to let people know the ground rules – and not just throw condoms on the table.

"There is huge excitement at debs balls. People are having a great time, getting drunk and things happen.

"But this sounds like a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. And it might put pressure on young girls who don’t want to be sexually active. Condoms on the table? It’s the wrong time and wrong place."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, September 03, 2009

Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/debs-condoms-responsible-or-reckless-100088.html#ixzz0Q3tJ76T1

My name is URL

Castration prior to meal

Reckless or responsible? =p

Gummy Panda

Good idea in principle but i agree putting condoms on the table is silly.

Should have just been a bowl at the exit where you can help yourself.

RHunce

that was just the starters

sex toys came out for the main meal :pac:

Rented Mule

Just one condom ?

There are going to be some very disappointed young ladies after this event.

pikachucheeks

I predict a riot!

My name is URL

My brother said that most of the fellas just went around with them blown up as balloons for the night :pac:

TPD

A bowl in each toilet would have been better I think. They're not out in the open so nobody feels pressure, yet still there if you want them.

jayteecork

LUBE?

lol, things have changed since my day,

Adamcp898

Few posh ones too for the lads tonight then so!

Tar.Aldarion

Good idea for the lads as it certainly brings the topic in mind up. :pac:


Should jsut leave tehm at the door/in the toilet as said.

claireycork

I think this is hilarious. The only thing those condoms will be intaking will be air as they will be used as balloons! Who really will attend there debs adn think "oh, what a clever idea, i better remember this later on when im full of drink and swinging off my old doll". Its an attention gimick for durex lol

deisedude

My name is URL wrote: »

Castration prior to meal

Reckless or responsible? =p

Just quoting the headline from the Examiner. I prob should have come up with a better title

Terodil

Pfft, there are condom dispensers in most public toilets, what's the big deal. Perfectly responsible IMO, even if the placement on the dinner table is somewhat insensitive. I agree that they could have picked a better place.

This one gets my goat (again). Talk about discrimination and gender-insensitivity:

"And it might put pressure on young girls who don’t want to be sexually active."

Oh yes of course, girls are the only ones who are ever put under pressure to perform sexually. *sigh*

Professey Chin

claireycork wrote: »

I think this is hilarious. The only thing those condoms will be intaking will be air as they will be used as balloons! Who really will attend there debs adn think "oh, what a clever idea, i better remember this later on when im full of drink and swinging off my old doll". Its an attention gimick for durex lol

Horny people who arnt idiots?

ScumLord

I think they managed to kill two birds with one stone with this one, it's both Responsible and reckless. Hurrah!

My name is URL

deisedude wrote: »

Just quoting the headline from the Examiner. I prob should have come up with a better title

Nah I didn't mean that.

Just meant that although it seems extreme, it's still better than a girl getting pregnant from a drunken romp weeks before she's starting college.

claireycork

Ultimate Chin wrote: »

Horny people who arnt idiots?

If there arent idiots they wouldnt need a free condom they would obviously be clever enough to carry there own.

deisedude

My name is URL wrote: »

Nah I didn't mean that.

Just meant that although it seems extreme, it's still better than a girl getting pregnant from a drunken romp weeks before she's starting college.

Fair enough personally i think it has been blown out of proportion like many of the condoms:D Still an unbelievably stupid thing to do though from the organisers.

One of the organisers was on the radio today and jaysus she made a total tool of herself. She was blaming some women she saw snooping around the hotel for telling the reporter

Pygmalion

I actually do feel for the people there who had no intention of getting ****faced and losing their virginity in a drunken haze to their one time debs date.
Best case scenario it'd be really awkward for them, worst case I'd imagine some people feeling pressured and doing something they aren't ready for.

This_Years_Love

Rented Mule wrote: »

Just one condom ?

There are going to be some very disappointed young ladies after this event.

LOL Yeah, it would have been better to give them a condom each rather than per couple. I think it was a good idea to leave them on the tables. If they'd been in a bowl at the exit, some of them probably would have been too shy or embarrassed to take the condoms.

Agamemnon

it was then decided to place the contraceptives, as well as flavoured lubricating gel, on the tables

I'll bet some gobshite dipped a condom in lube and ate it.

I hope this trend continues, so future debs/grads balls start trying to outdo each other and stack the tables with butt plugs, nipple clamps, chainmail fisting gloves, gimp suits and furries outfits. It'll make for some interesting photos anyway.

thomond2006

God that's an awkward situation for a boy and girl going as "friends". :pac:

stovelid

Condoms at debs.

Cases involving obscene pictures sent around schools via phone.

Hot foreign pupils.

Must you insist on torturing those of us unlucky enough to have attended school in the 80s?

ChocolateSauce

Great idea!

thomond2006

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

Great idea!

Pardon me, but your username is very apt for this thread.

Dudess

It's a difficult one. The safe sex message is great, but the wider implications don't appear to have been taken into consideration.

The reasoning that they'll be having sex anyway is flawed - lots of them won't be. It appears to be normalising something that isn't even that much the norm (as in, not everyone is doing it) and it might be interpreted as "A one night stand is an integral part of your graduation ball" which is a lot of pressure for some.
And yeah, I had to laugh at Mary Crilly's comment about how it could put pressure on girls, no mention of boys. I'd imagine it puts more pressure on boys.

Red Hand

Dudess wrote: »

It's a difficult one. The safe sex message is great, but the wider implications don't appear to have been taken into consideration.

The reasoning that they'll be having sex anyway is flawed - lots of them won't be. It appears to be normalising something that isn't even that much the norm (as in, not everyone is doing it) and it might be interpreted as "A one night stand is an integral part of your graduation ball" which is a lot of pressure for some.
And yeah, I had to laugh at Mary Crilly's comment about how it could put pressure on girls, no mention of boys. I'd imagine it puts more pressure on boys.

Naaa...the way it will work out with most of the condoms, is that after a few drinks and heavy meal, they will be blown up like balloons at the table and an attempt will be made to make them into balloon animals.

That's what I'd do anyway.:)

Vinta81

That's my friends school/debs. Tis all being blown completely out of proportion in my opinion.

This_Years_Love

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

Naaa...the way it will work out with most of the condoms, is that after a few drinks and heavy meal, they will be blown up like balloons at the table and an attempt will be made to make them into balloon animals.

That's what I'd do anyway.:)

Or fill with water and used as water balloons in a drunken end of the night water fight....

Mr. Presentable

It's responsible, but gives tacit approval to ride your date. Man I wish I was 17 and in Cork.................

K4t

The Perfect Drug wrote: »

A prostitute in each toilet would have been better I think. They're not out in the open so nobody feels pressure, yet still there if you want them.

fyp

marco_polo

If Debs now are anything like they were back in my day. I would say neither Reponsible or Reckless, but completely pointless.

El Siglo

jayteecork wrote: »

LUBE?

lol, things have changed since my day,

What, they've gone from tayto bags to flavoured lube?;)

deisedude

El Siglo wrote: »

What, they've gone from tayto bags to flavoured lube?;)

Jeez Tayto bags, i hope you didnt use salt and vinegar:eek:

El Weirdo

Vinta81 wrote: »

That's my friends school/debs. Tis all being blown completely out of proportion in my opinion.

You forgot this::pac:

Vinta81

El Weirdo wrote: »

You forgot this::pac:

lol.

El Siglo

deisedude wrote: »

Jeez Tayto bags, i hope you didnt use salt and vinegar:eek:

Oh cheese and onion my pedigree chum!;) Sometimes, a plastic shopping bag, but the air hole in it are a bit dodgey...:rolleyes:

jumpguy

Condoms on the table.


Classy.

philologos

I can see what kind of mindset they are coming from, but by putting them on the tables it is making it clear that sex is an expected part of the debs. Personally I think its a bit distasteful, because if people are going to have sex it is their responsibility to provide protection for themselves rather than the organisers suddenly thinking that it is their role to be the safe sex defenders of the night.

Personally I'm not a fan.

Dankoozy

it would be a lot less controversial to just have a stack of clothes hangers thrown somewhere in a corner

krudler

Great idea tbh, maybe not on the tables but have them somewhere freely available, all secondary schools should have condom machines in their bathrooms, teens are going to have sex anyway so make it easier to get protection, Ireland needs to drag itself out of this sexual repression thing, the more young people know about the consequences of unsafe sex the less 14 year old mothers and fathers we'll have

Dudess

I don't think the issue is sexual repression, more the fact that this is a blanket approach which doesn't take into account the differences between each teen. Sure, teens will have sex anyway - but not all of them will, and it's a time in your life when you're quite sensitive to such "norms".

Overheal

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Good idea in principle but i agree putting condoms on the table is silly.

Should have just been a bowl at the exit where you can help yourself.

Yeah. The awl' Take One philosophy. Teens always listen to that.

I noticed the problem with Sex Ed in secondary school was (well for us anyway) it focused on pregnancy. The problem with that is a lot of kids will think Abortion. "Oh its all right. We can always get the Ferry" they will think. Or "She can just go on The Pill"

Not one lecturer taught us a thing about Herpes. Or Gonorrhea. AIDS. HIV. Syphilis. Crabs.

But at least I have the fortune of being able to laugh at all of my promiscuous friends left scratching themselves

Jeebus

Overheal wrote: »

Yeah. The awl' Take One philosophy. Teens always listen to that.

I noticed the problem with Sex Ed in secondary school was (well for us anyway) it focused on pregnancy. The problem with that is a lot of kids will think Abortion. "Oh its all right. We can always get the Ferry" they will think. Or "She can just go on The Pill"

Not one lecturer taught us a thing about Herpes. Or Gonorrhea. AIDS. HIV. Syphilis. Crabs.

But at least I have the fortune of being able to laugh at all of my promiscuous friends left scratching themselves

Just went through sixth year. Had to sit through so SO many pictures of mangled penises (penisi?), battered, spot-ridden gees and semi-dismembered members.

Sex ed is grand, its changed. They teach you all the stuff you need to know, I guess. Different types of contraception, what the risk of pregnancy is, what to do and where to go if you get up the duff, why you shouldn't use a chocolate flavoured dam for rimming (I'm not joking. We were explained, in detail, why we shouldn't do this by a conservative 60 year old woman).

They should start it earlier is the only thing. Sixth year is very late. The Holy Mary's would never allow that though, I doubt.

OneArt

How disgusting. That'd put me off my food having condoms on the table. Give them out somewhere else ffs.

WeeBushy

OneArt wrote: »

How disgusting. That'd put me off my food having condoms on the table. Give them out somewhere else ffs.

Why? They're a fairly normal item. It not like there are used johnnys filled with jizz lying around the table, just a packet of them, I think you're being a bit prudish.

carlmango11

Condoms? Yes.

Dinner table? Jesus no.

Lube? Anyone think of Superbad when they read that??

grenache

How could carrying condoms be irresponsible? Students and teens are going to have sex, and having condomns should be applauded. Better to be safe than sorry.

punk_one82

grenache wrote: »

How could carrying condoms be irresponsible? Students and teens are going to have sex, and having condomns should be applauded. Better to be safe than sorry.

This.

grenache

punk_one82 wrote: »

This.